Have Umbrella, Will Travel

I'm so excited. One of my nine nieces, the oldest one,


is leaving for Brussels today to study for a semester abroad.


When not traveling to Brussels, she is studying journalism at the University of Wisconsin.

Jack and I were trying to figure out what we could get her as a "Bon Voyage" gift?? We decided that we should learn a little bit more about Brussels before deciding so we turned to the all-knowledgeable Wikipedia.

As we were reading about Brussels, we learned that the climate is quite rainy.

Brussels is relatively near the coastal areas, and its climate is therefore influenced by marine air masses from the Atlantic Ocean, as well as nearby wetlands. On average (based on measurements the last 100 years), there are approximately 200 days of rain per year in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Oh boy, that's a lot of rain. In fact, she's likely to experience 5-6 inches of rain/month while she's there!

Holy smokes, this girl is going to need a travel umbrella. There were tons of cool pics on Flickr of Brussels in the rain and even a picture of this cool umbrella shop in Brussels!

Photo courtesy of Squonk11

So off Jack and I went to the Mall to find a cool travel umbrella...Well, to make a long story short, the only cool travel umbrella we found was this number from Coach...


All the other ones were ugly or black...but this one was $88 and we could NOT afford that. Plus, you tend to lose umbrellas. After two hours of looking at every travel umbrella in the Mall, Jack says, "Hey Mom, why don't you buy a black one and decorate it?"

Ahhh, what brilliance! You've got to love his confidence in his Mommy...but that got me thinking....and the rest is history.

We bought a black umbrella with a good mechanism and we were finally released from our quest. Jack was very thankful to be out of the Mall...

Upon getting home, I got out my fabric paints, different size drinking glasses to outline the circles, and began to paint. The work really went very quickly...


We took the umbrella to her Going-Away Party and had family and friends write her notes and sign them with a fabric paint pen.


We painted the inside only and I added this saying:

"It's raining on the outside but you have friends who love you under here..."

Because the umbrella had a double fabric, the paint did not bleed through to the topside. I even got a chance to test it out in the rain...


And how about this sweet little Stitchette pattern by Wee Wonderfuls I bought not too long ago...


Maybe I'll stitch this cutie while feasting on another Brussels creation...Belgian waffles...Yum!

Photo courtesy of CxOxS

I'm hoping to travel to Brussels this Fall so if you have any travel tips or experiences, I'd love to hear about them!